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November 21, 2014
Bush Administration Immigration Ombudsman Applauds
President Obama’s Executive Order on Immigration Reform
Prakash Khatri, the nation’s first Immigration Ombudsman during the administration of President George W. Bush, today announced his support for President Obama’s Executive Order to provide administrative relief to millions of unauthorized immigrants in this country.
“I firmly support the immigration reform measures announced by the president,” Mr. Khatri said. “The executive actions taken by President Obama will help bring out of the shadows millions of undocumented immigrants who contribute a tremendous amount to our society and economy every day. The executive order is an important and long-overdue first step towards normalizing these people.”
While the president’s Executive Order is expected to directly benefit only about five million unauthorized persons, it will affect more people than the amnesty provisions signed into law by President Reagan in 1986. That 1986 amnesty resulted in legalizing the status of slightly more than three million people.
“I may be a registered Republican and former official in the Bush Administration, but I support President Obama’s initiative because I believe it will work. It is time for the nation’s political leaders to set aside their destructive political partisanship and instead work to resolve this issue that affects so many people,” said Mr. Khatri.
Prakash Khatri is an immigration attorney in Bethesda, Maryland (www.khatrilaw.com). In 2003, President Bush appointed Mr. Khatri as the United States’ first Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman at the then-newly established Department of Homeland Security. Before being appointed Ombudsman, he managed the Immigration Compliance Department for Walt Disney World in Florida. In 1984, at the age of 22, he became the youngest attorney admitted to the Florida Bar and was in private practice for 14 years before joining Disney.
For more information, contact:
Prakash Khatri
Phone: 202-470-0431 – Direct
Email: prakash@khatrilaw.com
Web: www.khatrilaw.com
The following were steps proposed by Prakash Khatri in 2013. The President's Executive Action on November 21, 2014 brings us one step closer to resolving the immigration crisis. We now call on Congress to pass the laws that are needed to provide a comprehensive solution to this crisis.
Immigration Reform – First Steps to Quickly Achieve Employer Compliance, Human Dignity, National and Border Security
As the United States Congress begins the process of reforming our broken immigration system, it is important to consider some steps that will:
• Uphold Civility and Dignity of all People Currently within our Border
• Enhance Security by Registering the Undocumented
• Enhance Employer Hiring
• Increase Sanctions on People who do not adhere to Immigration Laws
Recommendation # 1: Grant Preliminary Protected Status to the Undocumented
The quickest and most efficient way to “normalize” and identify the estimated 11 million undocumented persons in the United States is to grant them status similar to temporary protected status (TPS). Under this proposal, all persons who entered the United States unlawfully, or whose legal status lapsed six or more months prior to the enactment of the new law, would be eligible to register under a new program similar to TPS with similar documentary requirements. The application process would begin within 180 days after enactment of the law. Such persons would be issued “Preliminary Protected Status” (PPS). All persons applying under this PPS program would be subject to biometrics registration and would be issued employment authorization. Employers will be provided a one-time “amnesty” for previous employment of undocumented employees, so long as employers ensure that all employees are compliant within 360 days after the effective date of the program. (See #3 below). All persons granted PPS would eventually be eligible for a “path to permanent residence” and eventually citizenship in the United States, if they meet the other requirements.
Current Situation:
Currently, more than 11 million undocumented persons reside in the United States. Employers are often unable to document an individual’s eligibility for employment. Furthermore, the IRS is unable to account for billions of dollars in income taxes, FICA, and Medicare.
Expected Results:
• The U. S. Government will be able to identify, fingerprint, and document the whereabouts of the estimated 11 million undocumented individuals residing within U.S. borders.
• Employers will be able to hire and E-Verify newly documented individuals and place them on their payroll legally.
• Tax revenue will increase by placing millions of newly documented workers onto payrolls.
• Individuals would no longer be “living in the shadows or in fear” and would become contributing members of the community.
Recommendation # 2: Broaden Application of Visa Waiver Program Rules to most nonimmigrants
Current Visa Waiver Program rules regarding change of status, extension of status and adjustment of status should be applied to most nonimmigrants. The “Change of Status” should be eliminated for all categories of temporary nonimmigrants except for persons who enter on F-1 (students), , H-1B (professional temporary workers), L-1 (intra-company transferees), and O (extraordinary merit workers) visas and their derivatives and for persons entering as fiancés. In addition, the “Adjustment of Status to Permanent Residence” should be eliminated for all nonimmigrants except for those entering on F-1, H-1B, L-1, and O visas, or spouses of U.S. citizens if the spousal relationship occurred as a result of entry as a fiancé, or if the marriage occurred between the nonimmigrant and a U.S. citizen after the nonimmigrant had been in lawful nonimmigrant status in the United States for at least one year. Persons who overstay their visas or undocumented persons will be ineligible for adjustment of status in the United States and will be required to process at a U.S. Consulate abroad. All nonimmigrants will be subject to expedited removal for violation of terms of admission. In order to return to the United States in the future, the individual would need to pay $100 per day he/she overstayed during the prior visit to the United States. (see further discussion below).
Current Situation:
Foreign visitors for business or pleasure from most countries must obtain a nonimmigrant "B" visa to enter the United States. This process requires that the prospective visitor apply for a visa at a U.S. consular post abroad before entering the United States. Also, most of these visa applicants must be interviewed in-person. As many as 40 per cent of the estimated 11 million unauthorized individuals currently in the United States entered the country under a nonimmigrant visa.
Under the visa waiver program (VWP), the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may waive the visa requirement and allow temporary visitors from certain countries to enter the United States without prior application for a visa. As of April 2013, 37 countries have been designated to participate in the VWP. These countries include Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
While the VWP applies only to these 37 countries, all of which are key allies whose citizens have fewer instances of overstaying their visit, the VWP visitors are subject to some very specific restrictions. VWP visitors are:
1. Not allowed to change to another nonimmigrant or immigrant status.
2. Not permitted to extend their stay except for emergency reasons, and then for only 30 days.
3. Not permitted to adjust to immigrant status, except in very limited situations.
4. Subject to deportation without any administrative or judicial recourse for violating the terms of admission (except in asylum cases).
Currently, no such rules apply to persons entering on visitor or other visas.
Expected Results:
The current nonimmigrant visa system would conform to the existing Visa Waiver Program and would clarify for the nonimmigrant that there is no possibility of changing status once in the United States. The possibility of entering the United States as a visitor and remaining here based on a request for change of status or adjustment of status would also be eliminated. Additionally, anyone who overstays his/her visa or enters illegally will be barred from changing status or obtaining future immigration benefits while in the United States.
Additionally, this provision will help individual applicants for visitor visas in that the consular officers will be less likely to deny visitors based on failure to prove nonimmigrant intent, which is the primary reason for denials of visitor visas today.
Recommendation # 3: Universal E-Verify Requirement
Require E-Verify for all new employees by all employers. If an employer knowingly hires an unauthorized person after enactment of the statute, the employer shall be fined $200 per day for each day that the employee remains on the payroll. Employees hired prior to the enactment of the law will have 180 days after enactment of the statute to provide proof of legal status (or proof of application for such status followed by proof of status within an additional 180 days). An employee’s failure to provide proof of legal status or proof of application for such status will require the employer to terminate the employee. The employer will not be subject to any fines during this interim period if the employer ensures compliance by all employees within 360 days after enactment of the statute.
Current Situation:
All employers must review documents provided by their new hires to verify the worker’s identity and employment authorization. Employers and new hires then must complete I-9 forms. Employers participating in E-Verify must submit the new hire’s name, date of birth, Social Security number, immigration/citizenship status, and alien number (if applicable) from the I-9 form for confirmation.
The number of employers enrolled in E-Verify has grown dramatically in recent years, from 5,272 employers representing 22,710 hiring sites in January 2006 to 432,256 employers representing 1,300,871 hiring sites by February 2013. The current number of firms participating in E-Verify represents about 8 percent of U.S. employers.
Expected Results:
1. Requiring all employers to participate in E-Verify will ensure that all of their employees are authorized to work in the United States and are paying taxes.
2. Enhanced capability of all government agencies to verify the lawful employment status of all workers in the United States.
3. Individual applicants for jobs will be quickly identified as eligible and will not have problems with jobs due to lack of proper identification.
Recommendation # 4: Expedited Removal for future overstays
All persons entering the United States without authorization or overstaying their nonimmigrant authorized stay AFTER date of enactment of the statute shall be subject to expedited removal. Such persons also shall be required to pay the cost of their expedited removal plus a fee of $100 for each day they remained unlawfully in the United States. These costs must be paid to the U.S. Government prior to reentry into the United States.
Current Situation:
Currently, no such penalty exists and thus there is no incentive for such persons to return to their home countries.
Expected Results:
1. Fewer nonimmigrant visitors will overstay their authorized nonimmigrant stay.
2. The threat of a fine and required reimbursement of removal costs will provide a strong financial incentive for nonimmigrant visitors to voluntarily depart the United States before they are out of status.
3. If such individuals do overstay and undergo expedited removal, these violators will be less likely to return because of the requirement to pay the $100-per-day fine and the reimbursement of removal costs.
Recommendation # 5: Eliminate 3 and 10 year Bars to Reentry for voluntary exits of overstays
For all persons who are ineligible for legalization under other provisions of law, the 3-, 5- and 10-year bars will be waived if they voluntarily exit the United States and apply for legal immigrant or non-immigrant visas at a U.S. consulate abroad. In order to reenter the United States, they will be required to pay $1,000 for every year they remained in the United States without authorization prior to departing the United States. If, within 90 days of application for reentry, the United States government ascertains that they owe back taxes, they will be required to pay an amount equivalent to the higher of the $1,000 or the back taxes owed prior to readmission to the United States.
Current Situation:
Currently, there is no “exit” strategy which allows an individual to depart and return legally to the United States if he/she remained unlawfully for more than 180 days. This has effectively resulted in the United States creating a proverbial “Berlin Wall” preventing these individuals from leaving the United States without any promise to return legally to the United States for 3 to 10 years, depending on the length of overstay in the United States.
Expected Results: Large numbers of ineligible persons will have an incentive to depart the United States, confident that they may pay the fine and then apply to return legally in either nonimmigrant or immigrant status, based on eligibility.
For media inquiries or further information please contact Prakash Khatri at 202-470-0431 or email him at prakash@khatrilaw.com . We welcome support and corporate funding to develop these ideas further. MyUSA1.com is owned by Prakash Khatri.